Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/412

 4:06 BDENA VISTA BUENOS AYEES ItlTM VISTA, a N. W. county of Iowa; area, 576 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 1,585. Storm lake is situated in the S. part, which is also watered by Coon river and affluents of Maple river; the Little Sioux skirts the N. border. The Dubuqae find Sioux City railroad traverses the county. The chief productions in 1870 were 7,780' bushels of wheat, 9,085 of Indian corn, 0,450 of oats, 4,617 of potatoes, 151 tons of hay, and 26,475 Ibs. of butter. There were 299 horses, 374 milch cows, 717 other cattle, 249 sheep, and 172 swine. Capital, Prairieville. BUENA VISTA, a hamlet of N. E. Mexico, at the S. extremity of the state of Coahuila, 7 m. S. of Saltillo, near which a battle was fought, Feb. 22 and 23, 1847, between the Americans under Gen. Taylor and the Mexicans under Gen. Santa Anna. The Americans numbered about 5,000; the Mexicans were about 20,000, but the ground was such as to render their cavalry and artillery nearly useless, and par- tially to neutralize their superiority in infantry. Taylor having refused to surrender at the sum- mons of Santa Anna, the attack was com- menced by the latter in the afternoon of the 22d, and by night he had gained the summit of a ridge, and the Americans were withdrawn to the plain at its base. The battle was renewed at daybreak on the 23d, and after some skir- mishing the Mexicans moved in three heavy columns upon the Americans, whose left was turned and put to flight ; but the centre and right stood firm, and checked the advance of the enemy by a rifle and artillery fire, and finally drove them back. Two cavalry attacks were repelled, and the Mexican infantry on the right driven from the field. Santa Anna then formed his whole force into a single column, which drove the Americans back for some dis- tance, but was checked by the artillery, and at night the two forces occupied nearly the same ground as in the morning. During the night the Mexicans retreated. The American loss was 746, that of the Mexicans about 2,000. BOEJVOS AYKES. I. One of the four littoral provinces of the Argentine Republic, extend- ing from lat. 33 31' to 41 S., bounded N. by the provinces of C6rdoba, Santa Fe, and Entre- Rios, being separated from the last by the Rio Parana; E. by the Rio de la Plata and the At- lantic; S. by the Rio Negro, which forms the boundary line with Patagonia ; and W. by the pampas and the province of San Luis. The W. limit has not yet been definitely marked, but it is somewhere between Ion. 64 and 65 W. Area, 70,000 sq. m. ; pop. in 1869, 343,866, of whom 151,241 were of foreign birth, chiefly Italian, Spanish, French, and Irish. The coast line measures about 540 m., and is for the most part low and sandy. The only noteworthy ports on the seaboard are Bahia Blanca and Patagones, or El Carmen, and these are little frequented owing to the perilous navigation of the sea in their vicinity. The chief port is Bue- nos Ayres, on the Plata, 180 m. from the sea. With the exception of the Gnamini, Ventana, Tandil, and Volcan mountains, which origi- nate near the coast S. E. of the capital, and lose themselves in the pampas, the province is a vast plain, somewhat roughened with hills in the N. and N. E., and clothed with an alternate growth of clover and gigantic thistles to the W. of the city of Buenos Ayres for a distance of some 200 m., and still further westward with long grass besprinkled with flowers and unencumbered by weeds. The S. portion is about equally divided between stony, arid wastes, and immense marshy tracts inter- spersed with salt lagoons, which evaporate in the dry season, leaving the soil covered with pure salt. Agriculture has hitherto been much neglected and even despised by the inhabi- tants, notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, which is chiefly composed of a rich vegetable mould, varying from 9 to 33 inches in depth. Wheat of a fine quality is raised, but prior to 1872 the quantity was inadequate for the con- sumption. In December of that year a ves- sel was freighted for the export of wheat, the first ever sent out of the republic. The staple production is potatoes, two crops of which are raised each year. Since the intro- duction of railways many new farms have been established and large quantities of wheat are sown. There are 150 flour mills, and a few vermicelli factories; but little other manufac- turing is carried on. There are some thriving colonies in the north, chiefly Swiss. The prin- cipal branch of industry is cattle-raising, for which the country is admirably suited. A hundred varieties of grass, elsewhere produced only by great labor, here grow spontaneously, affording pasturage for 30,000 sheep to a square mile, these natural meadows being mostly laid out in large estancias, or cattle farms. The most extensive sheep farmers in the province are the Irish settlers, who have largely contributed to the development of that industry, which en- ables Buenos Ayres to rival Australia in the production of wool. In 1866 there were in the province 6,000,000 horned cattle, 1,800,000 horses and asses, 60,000,000 sheep, 115,000 swine, and 5,000 goats. The wool clip for that, year was estimated at 100,000,000 Ibs., and the shipment of wool has since rapidly increased. The chief exports are hides, tallow, sheepskins, wool, and jerked beef. The climate is gener- ally salubrious, but subject to sudden changes, according to the direction of the wind. All the rocks in the province are granitic, which in the Ventana, however, is covered by glossy clay slate and pure white quartz. Numerous fossil remains of colossal mammalia are imbed- ded in the diluvial deposits of the pampas. Red and yellow shale, gneiss, limestone, and gray quartz occur in the Tandil; agates are found chiefly of the jasper variety. The N. portion of the province is watered by innumer- able small streams falling into the Plata and the Parana, chief among which are the Lujan and the Arrecifes ; the rivers of the centre and south are the Salado, carrying the waters of